Mine car bearing



Ap 7, 1942- R. c. KE PNER MINE CAR BEARING Filed April l, 1940IIIIIIIII/II/A l/l/ II/I/ y/l/ I/I/II/IIIIII III III I l l I) I'IIIIIIIIJIIIIIIII [III III'IIIIIIIIIIIII ROM K RNEY Patented Apr. Ma

American Car and Foundry Company, New York, N. "IL, a corporation of NewJersey Application April 1, 1940, Serial No. 327,157-

This invention relates to mine cars in general and in particular tobearings of the anti-friction type for mine cars.

The majority of mine cars in the past have had the bearings locatedbetween the wheels, thereby limiting the overall width of the car anddecreasing the cars stability. The trend at present is toward largecapacity cars of as great a width and height as will be permitted bymine clearances and accordingly most of the cars are now being builtwith the sills and body support bearing located outside of the wheels.Since better operation is obtained by permitting the wheels to rotate onthe axle, the majority of these cars are being built with anti-frictionbearings located in the wheels and with the body supported on the axleoutside the wheels through the medium of body support bearings. thatwith cars of this type, adjustment of the bearings cannot beaccomplished without removing the wheels and axles from the car orwithout providing special adjusting features. Due-to the inconvenienceof adjusting the bearings they have been neglected with the result thatthe wheel hub would soon bear on the dust guard ring and cause it torotate on the axle, with the result that the axle would be cut ornotched at the point of maximum shear, consequently a large number ofaxles are broken due to the grooving of the axle by the rotating dustcollar. It is an object, therefore, of the present invention to providea bearing assembly for mine cars in which the dust rings or collarscannot rotate.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a bearing for minecars which may be readily adjusted at all times and without disturbingthe car structure in any way.

These and other objects of-the invention will be apparent to personsskilled in the art from a study of the following description andaccompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1"is a sectional view through the car substantially at the axleand showing one hearing assembly, and

'Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 22 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, it will be seen that the minecar body as represented by side sheet 2 and floor sheet 4 is supportedon side sills 6. It is to be understood that as shown in Figure 1,one-half the lower portion of the car is shown but the other half willbe a duplicate thereof and accordingly need not be shown or described.The body support bearing 8 is preferably formed as a unitary castinghaving ears ex- (Cl. 308-180) I It is obvious tending laterally thereofto receive bolts or other means It by means of which the bearing or boxmay be secured to the sill and body. The central portion of this bodysupport bearing or box is formed with a vertically elongated opening 12terminating inwardly of the inner wall of the box and merging into ahexagonal opening l4. As clearly shown in Fig. 2, this hexagonal openinghas the three upper side walls and the three lower side walls separatedslightly by a connecting wall It, thus in effect giving a verticallyelongated hexagonal opening adjacent the inner side of the box. Theinner side of the box is provided with an upstanding flange l8 adaptedto fit within a cut out portion of the car sill and adapted to transferany shocks directly to the sill thereby relieving the bolts/or othersecuring means of shearing strains.

The car is supported upon wheels W mounted on axles 20 extendingthrough'the wheels and carrying .on their outer ends bearing adjustingsleeves 22 which are in direct engagement with the inner surface of theopening in the bearing box. Movement of the bearing sleeve along theaxle can be obtained and controlled by means of a hexagonal castellatednut 24 having lntemal threads engaging the external threads of a reducedaxle portion 26. This reduced axle portion has one or more holes drilledtherein to receive a cotter or other means engageable in thecastellations of the nut, thereby permitting various locking adjustmentsof the nut'on the axle. The inner end of the tubular bearing adjustingsleeve 22 bears upon the outer surface of a hexagonal projection 28formed on the outer side of outer dust guard or ring 30. The inner edgeof this outer dust guard bears against the inner race 32 01' ananti-friction bearing 34, the outer race 36 being in direct engagementwith a shoulder formed in the wheel hub portion. The inner portion ofthe wheel hub is supported upon a similar anti-friction bearing 38through the means of an outer race 40 and inner race 42.

The inner race 42 bears against the'inner surface of an inner dust guardor ring 44 shrunk or otherwise non-rotatably fixed on the axle. Each ofthe dust guards has its outer surface grooved in order to cooperate withthe extended hub portions of the wheel and prevents the escape of greaseor entrance of dust to the bearings; It will be seen that if the innerrace rings of the bearings are brought toward each other,

wear on the bearings will be compensated for. In other words, thebearing can be adjusted by sliding one of the inner race rings of thebearings along the axle. Sliding of the inner race ring may beaccomplished by rotation of the castellated nut 24, thereby applyingpressure to the outer ends of tubular bearing adjusting sleeve 22 whichwill transmit the pressure to the integral outer dust collar or ring andforce the inner race ring along the axle.

The outer dust guard ring, together with its integral hexagonalprojection, may be made in any manner but can be most economically madeas a drop forging. It is to be noted that the length of the hexagonalprojection is slightly less than the depth of the hexagonal opening inthe bearing box, thus insuring that end thrust will be absorbed by thedust collar striking the inner face of the bearing box and not by thehexagonal projection striking the base of the hexagonal recess in thebearing box. The length of the tubular bearing adjustment sleeve will,

of course, be chosen of a suflicient length to permit adjustment of theantifriction bearing throughout the life thereof and without thecastellated nut striking the outer surface of the body support orbearing box. It will be seen that with the parts arranged as shown theentire wheel and axle assembly may rise and fall in the body supporthearing or box, thus insuring that the wheels will always engage therail and the car be retained on the track. Due to the elongatedhexagonal recess, the hexagonal projection on the outer dust collar mayalso ride vertically with respect to the box while being prevented fromrotation at all times regardless of its position in the box, thus itwill be impossible, even if the bearings are not adjusted, for the dustcollar to be rotated by the wheels, with the consequent grooving andbreaking of the axle.

While the invention has been described more or less in detail, it willbe obvious that various modifications and rearrangements of parts may bemade without departing from the intention of the invention, the scope ofwhich is defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a structure of the character described, the combination with asill portion of a car body, of a wheel, antifriction hearings in saidwheel, an axle supported by. said 'antifriction bearings and extendingoutwardly beyond said wheel and beneath said sill portion, a supportingbearing secured to said sill portion, means interposed between saidsupporting bearing and axle to support the car body on the axle, and anouter dust guard collar for said antifriction bearings supported on saidaxle between said means and the antifriction bearings, said collarhaving a portion thereof in engagement with and slidable axially of thesupporting bearing and preventing rotation of the collar.

2. In a structure of the character described, the combination with asill portion of a car body, of a .wheel, antifriction bearings in saidwheel, an axle supported by said antifriction bearings and extendingoutwardly beyond said wheel and beneath said sill portion, a supportingbearing secured to'said sill portion and formed with a non-circularrecess in the inner face thereof, means interposed between saidsupporting bearing and axle to support the car body on the axle, and anouter dust guard collar for said antifriction bearings supported on saidaxle between said means and the antifriction bearings, said collar beingformed with a non-circular projection extending fully into said recessto prevent rotation of the dust guard collar while permitting axialmovement of the wheel, axle and bearing assembly relative to thesupporting bearing.

3. In a structure of the character described, the combination with asill portion of a car body, of a wheel, antifriction bearings in saidwheel, an axle supported by said antifriction bearings and extendingoutwardly beyond said wheel and beneath said sill portion, a. supportingbearing secured to said sill portion and formed with a verticallyelongated axle receiving opening terminating adjacent its inner end in anon-circular vertically elongated recess, means interposed between saidsupporting bearing and axle and supporting the car body on the axle,said axle and means being vertically movable in the elongated axlereceiving opening, and an outer dust guard collar'for said antifrictionbearings supported on said axle between said means and the antifrictionbearings, said collar being formed with a non-circular projectionextending into said vertically elongated recess to prevent rotation ofthe dust guard collar while permitting vertical movement thereof.

4. In a structure of the character described, the combination with asill portion of a car body, of a wheel, antifriction hearings in saidwheel, an axle supported by said antifriction bearings and extendingoutwardly beyond said wheel and beneath said sill portion, a supportingbearing secured to said sill portion and formed with a verticallyelongated axle receiving opening terminating adjacent its inner end in avertically elongated hexagonal recess, means interposed between saidsupporting bearing and axle and supporting the car body on the axle,said axle and means being vertically movable in the elongated axlereceiving opening, and an outer dust guard collar for said antifrictionbearings supported on said axle between said means and the antifrictionbearings, said collar being formed with .a hexagonal projectionextending into said vertically elongated hexagonal recess to preventrotation of the dust guard collar while permitting vertical movementthereof.

5. In a structure of the character described, the cornbination with asill portion of a car body, of a wheel, antifriction bearings in saidwheel, an axle supported by said antifriction bearings and extendingoutwardly beyond said wheel and beneath said sill portion, a supportingbearing secured to said sill portion and formed with a verticallyelongated axle receiving opening terminating adjacent its inner end in avertically elongated hexagonal recess, means interposed between saidsupporting bearing and axle and supporting the car body on the axle,said axle and means being vertically movable in the elongated axlereceiving opening, and an outer dust guard collar for said antifrictionbearings supported on said axle between said means and the antifrictionbearings, said collar being formed with a hexagonal projection extendinginto said vertically elongated hexagonal recess to prevent rotation ofthe dust guard collar while permitting vertical movement thereof, andsaid collar being shiftable along said axle relative to said recess andantifriction bearings through the medium of said means whereby saidantifriction bearings may be adjusted.

ROBERT C. KEPNER.

